Hazelnut Cookies with Nutella Filling

Hazelnut Cookies with Nutella filling: Yes, please! During the holiday season members of our family were visiting and they had a big list of edible requests! The mixed berry tart was one of them. Since I discovered the hazelnut crust recipe, it has been my “go-to-pie-crust” for the fruit tarts. It is absolutely delicious and have great reviews from my “oh so hard to please” judging panel. The amount of dough in the original recipe is enough to make two fruit tarts, but time was not on my side. I made one tart and had leftover dough that I didn’t want to throw away. I converted it into cookies, Nutella cookies to be precise. It was perfect! After posting the picture on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter I had to adapt the original recipe answering your insisting demands and messages asking me to share the recipe.

Since hazelnut and chocolate is one of the best combination EVER, I didn’t hesitate with the choice of filling. You can of course, skip the Nutella, use any chocolate filling or orange marmelade, raspberry or apricot preserves…

Have the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment ready. Put the butter in the bowl of the stand mixer and mix on medium speed for a few minutes, until the butter has a silky and creamy texture. Add the powdered sugar, hazelnut flour, egg and 3 oz (90g) of flour. Once the ingredients are well combined, add the remaining 9 ½ oz (270g) of flour and mix very briefly. (don’t overwork the dough). Divide the dough into 3 equal amounts, roll out each portion between two sheets of parchment paper. Place the rolled out dough in the freezer for about 45 minutes.

When the dough is hard enough, take it out from the freezer, remove the top parchment paper and using your selected cookie cutters, cut out cookies and place them directly on the baking sheets. If you are planning on filling the cookies, you will need half of your production to be “flat” and the other half to be with a “window”. You can cut out the center of half the cookies using a smaller cookie cutter or a different shaped one. Have fun!*

Chill them for 20 minutes.Meanwhile heat the oven to 350F (180C).

Remove the cookie sheets from the fridge and bake in the oven for 12 minutes approximately. (The cooking time depends on the thickness and size of your cookies. Keep an eye on them. You want them to be cooked through but not over baked.) Remove from the oven, using a metal spatula, carefully place them on a wire rack and let them sit until completely cool.Dust some powdered sugar on the windowed cookies and set aside.Take one flat cookie, place a small amount of Nutella (or any other filling you chose) and top it with a windowed cookie.

*Note: If the dough starts to soften too much and is hard to cut out and work with, put it back in the fridge (or freezer) and let it chill for a few minutes. Working with chilled hard dough is easier and best in order to have nicely shaped cookies.